“For God alone my soul waits in silence; from Him comes my salvation. He only is my rock and salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly moved.” Psalm 62:1-2 RSV
A Sacred Silence
I awoke early this morning and it seemed as if all of creation was silent. There was an incredible stillness, surrounding me with comfort and calm. God whispered into my ear “a sacred silence.” Moments later the wind started blowing and rain began to pelt against the window, but the thought and feeling of what I had just been told stayed with me, and is still staying with me even hours after the fact. The storm outside is getting wilder; I can hear the wind howling and the rain pouring down, yet I am filled with the quiet confidence that indeed I shall not be greatly moved.
King David wrote this Psalm, and he repeats himself a mere three verses later: “For God alone my soul waits in silence, for my hope is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken” (Psalm 62:5-6 RSV).
There are many different kinds of storms in life: natural, supernatural, and others involving our minds, bodies and spirits. We fight against external and internal things that try to move and shake us to our very core.
But one thing is always constant, one thing is always the same: God. He is our Rock and our Salvation, He is our Fortress, He is our Hope, the Lamp unto our feet and the Light unto our path. He can calm any storm we will ever face.
Just like Jesus calmed the wind and the waves in Matthew 8:23-27, He will do the same in the storms in our lives. Sometimes we need to cry out to Him, and yet I am convinced other times we need to wait in a sacred silence. We need to be willing to let the storm rage—because as we see in Job 38:1 and 40:6, sometimes God speaks to us out of the storm. Alas, He created storms: “What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed, or the place where the east winds are scattered over the earth? Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain, and a path for the thunderstorm….?” (Job 38:24-25)
“Lord, thank You for loving us. Thank You for speaking tenderly to us. I don’t know what storms my sisters have faced, are facing, or soon will face, but You do. Whether we need to cry out to You or enter into a sacred silence, I trust You will meet us in the midst of our storms and give us exactly what we need. Amen.”